MLB.com beat writer Brian McTaggart blogs about all things Astros.

Astros need young pitchers to step up

Bud Norris struggled with his control Tuesday against the Reds, walking four batters and hitting one more in six-plus innings of work. He took the loss to fall to 1-2 with a 5.60 ERA through four starts. Right-hander Felipe Paulino will carry an 0-2 record and 5.94 ERA into his fourth start Wednesday against the Reds.

With Roy Oswalt on top of his game, Wandy Rodriguez getting better by the start and BrettMyers pitching in and out of trouble to keep his team competitive nearly every start, the Astros’ chances of staying relevant in the NL Central could fall into the hands of Norris and Paulino.

At this time last year, the Astros had Mike Hampton, Russ Ortiz and BrianMoehler at the bottom of the rotation, so they’re in much better shape with Norris and Paulino. Both of them have tremendous stuff and the ability to dominate, and their best years are still ahead of them, unlike Hampton and Ortiz.

Norris has just 14 Major League starts under his belt and has been up and down, and Paulino has started only 23 games in his career and this year has pitched better than the numbers have indicated. If this is the year one of them or — dare we say? — both of them figure it all out, the Astros have the makings of a pretty good rotation in the future. Perhaps that future begins Wednesday.

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I agree; we need both of them to step up big time. Norris needs to rely on his defense a bit more rather than trying to K every one; he gets into too many 3-2 counts and walks way too many hitters.
I think the future of the Astros is also in the minor right now; Van Hekken is looking very good; so are Abad and Lyles. Myers is a patch, Oswalt has said he?ll retire after his contract expires, and Rodriguez may decide to test the FA market at some point.

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